The New York Film Festival

Click below for TONY's take on every title in this year's lineup.

By David Fear, Joshua Rothkopf and Keith Uhlich Mon Sep 20 2010

ANOTHER YEARCan it be that Britain's Mike Leigh, already a giant for Naked, Secrets & Lies and Topsy-Turvy, is only now entering his golden period? After 2008's exuberant Happy-Go-Lucky, the director seemed reinvented; Another Year has Leigh striding even further into the rich vitality of human fallibility and weakness. Essentially, it's a year in the life of a long-married, middle-class couple, played by aces Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen. Their adult son is out of the house; jobs and gardening fill contented days. But into their cozy living room come those less fortunate—particularly the extraordinary Lesley Manville, whose frenetic sufferer, Mary, turns the entire picture on its head. So intimate as to remind you not only of your own family, but also your own dreams and fears, Another Year will wreck you like no other film in the fest.—Joshua Rothkopf